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Rabbi Lyon's Blog - 11_20_2015

11/20/2015 10:15 AM
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From the Desk of Rabbi
David Lyon
November 20, 2015

On
August 20, 2014, renowned Holocaust scholar, Deborah Lipstadt, wrote an op-ed
in the New York Times. She began with an old Jewish joke. “What’s the
definition of a Jewish telegram? Start worrying. STOP. Details to follow.”
Lipstadt explained that even though European countries condemn anti-Semitism,
today, and Jews are resolute when they say “Never Again!” protests and violence
against Jews are mounting. She wrote, “It is not just disgruntled Muslim youth
who perpetrate these actions; they are Muslims born in Europe, and many of
those who weren’t, are the parents of a new generation of Europeans. And,
unlike Muslim instigators, cultural, religious and academic leaders in all the
countries where [anti-Semitic protests] have occurred, should be shaken to the
core, not just about the safety of their Jewish neighbors, but about the future
of the seemingly liberal, enlightened societies they belong to.” Lipstadt pinned
her fear on telltale evidence. She explained that “when a Hamas spokesman…
stood by his statement that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish children for
their matzos --- one of the oldest anti-Semitic [lies] --- European elites were
largely silent.” She ended, “The telegram has arrived. Jews are worrying. It is
time for those who value a free, democratic, open, multicultural and
enlightened society to [worry], too. This is not another Holocaust, but it’s
bad enough.”

One
week after the terror attacks in Paris, that proverbial telegram arrived again,
and this time it’s not just for the Jews. Though ISIS links much of what it
does to Jewish businesses, their Jewish linkages are losing strength. Lipstadt
correctly revealed that ISIS’s complete threat is posed against all of Europe
and beyond. Only now, the world is forming alliances to wage war against ISIS’s
evil. But, the future world we wish to share without ISIS must be envisioned
now for a time that comes after allied military achievements. That world must
be envisioned by Europe’s and the world’s elite, as Lipstadt described them.
She wasn’t trying to be elitist, herself; rather, the definition of our enemies
needs to be understood and battled by more than our nations’ armies. It needs
to be linked to our intellectual understanding of history and culture, and then
permanently extinguished by imagining how the modern world carelessly permitted
the development of such evil, and then lay the groundwork for a world without
it.

Lipstadt
warned, “It is time for those who value a free, democratic, open, multicultural
and enlightened society to [worry], too.” Memories of Europe’s and America’s
elites, who remained silent during last century’s horrors, shouldn’t be
resurrected in this century as models of how to be elite or enlightened. The
allied forces we need in this century are a combination of the world’s best
military forces and the world’s best minds. After defeating a mutual enemy, we
have to forge a world-view that surpasses any standards by which we measured
our world in the past. The 21st century began with 9/11 as a symbol
of what we had to fear. It’s time to reclaim the hopes for the 21st
century with deep regard for the global world we share and the highest
aspirations of human life no previous generation has ever had the privilege to
reach. Technology, medical innovation, economic potential and civil rights have
advanced more quickly than at any time in history. Religious and spiritual life
should be a force for good and not evil; and a reflection of not only our
century’s enlightened elite, but of all people who call themselves good.

As
Americans sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, let us see in the faces of our
family and our neighbors the potential that exists in all of us to imagine and
rebuild a world where bigotry, xenophobia and hate, are replaced with
acceptance, open-mindedness, and love.